It’s a question some parents have been asking for months: Why is Manteca Unified starting the new school year on a Thursday? The short answer is money.“There are actually a number of students each year that — for whatever reason — do not know when the first day of school is,” said Manteca Unified Superintendent Jason Messer.Messer said after the students and their parents notice that other youth in the neighborhood aren’t around they get the message. Typically they will be at school on the following Monday.For each student that doesn’t show up, the district will lose roughly $76 a day in state funding based on the $11,742 school districts statewide received in 2014-15 from Sacramento for every student that was at school for all the state required instructional days.This year, the district expects to have 23,500 students attending classes.Manteca Unified isn’t along when it comes to starting a new school year on a Wednesday or a Thursday.